Macbeth Essay “A tragedy is the moment where the hero comes face to face with his true identity” (Aristotle). Macbeth is a perfect example of a tragic hero. Throughout the play, Macbeth shows many traits of a tragic hero from often being blinded by his perception of reality, to being born into nobility, and lastly being known as a person of high position and/or status. Firstly in the play, Macbeth is often blinded by his perception of reality. It is shown in the play that Macbeth is constantly being tortured by his conscience. Secondly, he makes many errors in his life that lead to his slow downfall. He kills many people throughout the play in judgment following his misdeeds. Lastly, he is a person of a high position and status. He is announced …show more content…
Throughout the play, Macbeth is faced with many tragic hero traits but he is mostly blinded by his perception of reality. Firstly, Macbeth is faced with a bloody dagger floating in front of him right before he is set out to kill Duncan. Macbeth takes this as a sign to kill Duncan to be king of Scotland. This shows how Macbeth is often distorted or blinded by reality. Secondly, after Macbeth ordered the two murderers to kill Banquo and his son so he can be king, the murderers killed Banquo, and his son fled. This causes Banquo to haunt Macbeth’s consciousness and make him feel guilty about everything he has done to be king. This explains that his guilt has caused him to hallucinate by seeing Banquo as a ghost. Lastly, Macbeth is blinded by the witches and chooses to listen to them even though Banquo told him not to because they would end up betraying them. Macbeth trusted the witches when the witches said “Laugh to scorn the power of man, for none of women born shall harm Macbeth”(Shakespeare 4.1 136). Macbeth chooses the witches over Banquo and because of this, the three witches took advantage of him and told him only things he liked and therefore he got himself killed. All three examples of Macbeth being blinded to reality show how he is a tragic